Habakkuk’s Complaint

Habakkuk 1:1-17
¶ The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.
2 O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! [even] cry out
unto thee [of] violence, and thou wilt not save!
3 Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause [me] to behold grievance? for
spoiling and violence [are] before me: and there are [that] raise up strife
and contention.
4 Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the
wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment
proceedeth.
5 ¶ Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously:
for [I] will work a work in your days, [which] ye will not believe, though it
be told [you].
6 For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, [that] bitter and hasty nation, which
shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces
[that are] not theirs.
7 They [are] terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall
proceed of themselves.
8 Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than
the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their
horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle [that] hasteth to
eat.
9 They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up [as] the east
wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.
10 And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto
them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take
it.
11 Then shall [his] mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend,
[imputing] this his power unto his god.
12 ¶ [Art] thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One?
we shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O
mighty God, thou hast established them for correction.
13 [Thou art] of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on
iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, [and]
holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth [the man that is] more
righteous than he?
14 And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, [that
have] no ruler over them?
15 They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net,
and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad.
16 Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their
drag; because by them their portion [is] fat, and their meat plenteous.
17 Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay
the nations?
The present day is similar to the day of Habakkuk. A few years ago I
preached a series through the minor prophets. As I read and studied each one
of the books I was struck by the timeliness of the message before my eyes.
His was a time filled with violence, corruption and disregard for the Law.
The events of the past few weeks are a very sharp and shocking illustration of
the fruits of sin in a society. Over the past one hundred to one hundred fifty
years we have experienced a steady decline in our nation and its trajectory is
increasingly steep. We are sinking into a morass of sin on every hand. Given
the conditions in his nation we can understand why Habakkuk was distressed.
Let’s look at an exchange between Habakkuk and God about this matter.
Consider:
I. Habakkuk’s PLAINT – Habakkuk looked around him and saw a people
that had drifted very far from the anchor of the Word of God. It is a sad
fact that a nation tends to become prideful and self-righteous when they
have been blessed by God. Habakkuk complained to God about:
A. INCREASING Corruption – I don’t remember there being the
Jerusalem Times newspaper in the time of the prophet, but there was
some means of disseminating the news in that day. The news of that
day was bad news. It is the same in our day. I have told my folks “if I
didn’t know that God is in charge, I would be worried.” Corruption
only grows worse and worse until something is done to stop it and
reverse it. There was corruption in the religious and political life of
Israel. Anyone living in our country today can sympathize with
Habakkuk. The news is filled with stories about those who have
stolen from the government or from their church or the business that
employs them. It is so common that it is now called ‘white collar’
crime and is often not punished or punished very lightly. Corruption
is seen in the personal lives of the people. Marriage vows are now
considered either unnecessary or non-binding. Morality concerning
sex, honesty, fidelity to obligations are now thought of as a quaint and
amusing concept. The root of the problem is a lack of dedication to
God. All of morality presupposes a higher authority. Without God
every man does what is right in his own eyes. This is a recipe for
disaster. Today most people are effective humanists, that is they have
put man, man’s ideas and man’s own morality in place of God’s. The
old religion of nature worship is back in the guise of the
environmental movement. Whatever ism or movement is subscribed
to, that is the morality that is observed and, if it requires or allows
lying, stealing or killing then so be it. We, as did Habakkuk, are living
with the consequences.
B. INATTENTION to the Law – In the case of Habakkuk and his people
it was the Old Testament Law that was perverted, ignored or worse,
corrupted to further the interest of those in power. This sounds very
familiar to us today. We see unequal justice every day. It has been
said “we have the very finest justice that money can buy.” I believe
that we have the best system in the world, but it’s certainly far from
perfect. We can complain as did Habakkuk that the law is not
faithfully enforced. Habakkuk would recognize the situation in our
present day as it is reminiscent of his own. Respect for law depends
on it being fairly and quickly enforced. One of the complaints that
Habakkuk raised that the law was not being equally applied.
C. INACTION by God – Habakkuk basically accuses God of either
overlooking the evil or condoning it by His inaction. Habakkuk
labored under the same misconception as many believers: that God
will operate on our schedule and not His. We pray, then if God has us
wait a short time, we tend to think that God isn’t listening or will not
answer. Habakkuk was frustrated by the great wickedness around him
and he could not see God doing anything about it. It is a burden on
the soul and spirit of the believer to see a society given over to sin on
every hand. When confronted by this situation many simply give up
and give in. Habakkuk was impatient to see God move to chasten his
people. He wanted the corruption stopped, He thought he was ready
for the measures that God would employ in bringing Israel back to the
fold. We will see that he was not prepared for God’s prescription. I
often see this today. People will pray for their loved ones asking God
to save them and change their lives but they want it done in their way,
a gentle way. God works in His own way and uses His own methods.
When God’s time has come He will act and He will do things His way.
II. God’s PRESCRIPTION God always knows the situation and has a plan
to deal with what ever we encounter. Isaiah 46:10 Declaring the end
from the beginning, and from ancient times [the things] that are not
[yet] done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my
pleasure: We are sometimes surprised by God’s actions. Much like
Habakkuk we don’t expect God to answer our prayers in the way that He
sometimes does. We will look at some of the aspects of God’s judgment
that were shocking to Habakkuk. It was:
A. SUDDEN (unanticipated) To keep the alliteration I have used the
word ‘sudden’. In my experience as a pastor there are some things for
which we can never truly be prepared. The death of a loved one is
something that always deals a blow to us. We may think that we
expect it but when it happens it is a difficult thing to accept and
understand. The shock that Habakkuk suffered was somewhat akin to
this. He thought he wanted God to judge his people. He thought he
was prepared to see them suffer the chastening that they had certainly
earned. He also thought of the judgment as something in the future.
He was taken aback when the reality was there before his face. Do we
really pray in faith? Do we really expect God to act? It is very easy to
‘go through the motions’ when we pray. We follow a set formula. Our
prayers are not heart felt. We don’t live in the expectation of God
acting. When He does it comes as a shock!
B. SEVERE – Habakkuk knew the reputation of the Chaldeans. God also
reinforced his understanding of what lay in store for Israel. The
Chaldeans were a ferocious and cruel force that was about to be
unleashed upon Israel. Habakkuk was surprised when God told him
that He was preparing to use the Chaldeans to correct Israel. The most
important lessons here are first; that God takes sin very seriously. We
like to think of our sins as somethings small and of little importance,
but God see them as SIN. Secondly, the results of sin are great.
Psalm 9:17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, [and] all the
nations that forget God. The Bible makes clear the cost of sin. We
can often see some of the consequences of sin in the destruction of
people’s bodies, the breakup of family, the failure of churches and
even the fall of nations. Sin is so serious that God deals with it in
severe ways. He did in Old Testament days and He does in our day.
We would do well not to presume upon the long suffering and mercy
of God. In our day we have the great evil of abortion. The blood of
60 million innocent babies, that were killed in the womb, with the
approbation of our government, cries out for judgment. The number
of the children killed in their mothers’s wombs in the United States
alone is equal or greater than the number of people killed in WWII.
God keeps good records. It’s time for us as individuals and as a nation
to repent and seek God’s forgiveness. Israel could have avoided the
catastrophe that befell them if they had sought God’s forgiveness.
They continued on in their rebellion and sin to their destruction.
C. SURPRISING – When God told him that He was going to use the
Chaldeans to chasten Israel, he was shocked and almost indignant that
God would use a people that he thought worse than Israel as His
instrument of discipline. It seemed that God was wrong in using the
Chaldeans because they were so cruel and heathen. When we make a
petition of God, He is the one who decides how and when He answers.
We are prone to planning things out and then going to God in prayer to
let Him know that we have the plan. He just needs to implement our
ideas. We are surprised when God does things according to His plan
and timetable. I’m not sure what Habakkuk had in mind for God to
do, but it surely wasn’t to use the Chaldeans! It is a lesson that has to
be learned over and over that God knows all. He is not surprised by
anything that comes along, He knew about it from old.
III. Habakkuk’s PROTEST
A. God is being UNFAIR – Habakkuk thought that God was being unfair
to Israel in using the Chaldeans as His chosen instrument for
correction. How can God cause Israel to fall to the Chaldeans. Surely
Israel needed to be chastened because of their sin, but the Chaldeans
were much worse. It seemed grossly unfair to Habakkuk for God to
make use of those such as the Chaldeans. Their cruelty and avarice
was well known to Habakkuk. He thought that instead of giving Israel
into their hands God should destroy them. His problem is the same as
that of many today. He could only see the moment. God knows the
beginning from the end. He knew that the chastening of the
Chaldeans was coming and by the way they would be judged for their
treatment of Israel. God did not make the Chaldeans wage war against
Israel, but He used them and their wickedness to chasten Israel, then
He dealt with them.
B. God is blessing the UNHOLY – Why would God allow the very
wicked to prosper at the expense of the less sinful. By using the
Chaldeans, Habakkuk thought, that God was condoning their sin.
C. God is being UNDULY harsh – Yes, punish Israel but the Chaldeans
are too much. Habakkuk thought it was not proportionate punishment.
How could God allow Israel to suffer at the hands of such gross
sinners? Was it just? Was it worthy of God? He failed, as most
Christians do today, to understand how God sees sin. We think of a
scale or hierarchy of sins. But sin is sin. All sin is an offense against
God, against His holiness and perfection. Sin must be dealt with,
either by repentance and confession or by judgment. It is the choice
of each person which way their sin will be dealt with. You can repent
and in faith receive Jesus as Saviour or you can stand in judgment at
the Great White Throne judgment and be cast into the Lake of Fire.
IV. God’s PRINCIPLES
A. God is SOVEREIGN – God is sovereign. What does this mean? It
means that God is the one who decides how and when things are done.
I know there are some who think that God has decided who is
predestined for Heaven and who is predestined for Hell. That is that it
is not in man’s ability to make a decision about Jesus unless God with
irresistible force causes him to believe. I’m convinced that the Bible
teaches that God has chosen those for Heaven. He has chosen
‘whosoever will’. Each person has to come to a decision, will he
accept God’s salvation or reject it?
B. Judgment is SURE – We have seen judgment become more and more
uncertain over the past decades. Parents rarely mete out any serious
punishment for disobedience, the justice system also has become more
lax. We have failed to see that punishment is meant to be corrective.
We must understand what is the purpose of punishment. It is not
vengeance but the medicine needed to correct the errant one.
Proverbs 20:30 The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil: so
[do] stripes the inward parts of the belly. Proverbs 13:24 He that
spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth
him betimes. Punishment is the needed medicine to correct the
rebellion that is in the heart of man. Proverbs 22:15 Foolishness [is]
bound in the heart of a child; [but] the rod of correction shall drive
it far from him.
C. Judgment is FAIR – We receive the judgment that we have earned.
This principle is revealed in Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin [is]
death; but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord. God is not capricious in His judgments. We earn His judgment.
Notice in Romans 6:23 the word ‘wages’. Wages are the payment
made for work done. Sinners work hard at earning the wrath of God.
Why then, do they complain when they receive just wages. Habakkuk
was not satisfied with the conditions in Israel neither was he satisfied
with the wages they were to receive. But God is just! Thank God He
has made a way for the sinner to be made right with Him by faith in
Jesus and His work on the Cross of Calvary. Titus 3:5-7 Not by
works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his
mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of
the Holy Ghost; 6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus
Christ our Saviour; 7 That being justified by his grace, we should
be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. God’s judgment
is fair. Those who reject His mercy by their own choice will receive
His wrath. I pray that you have received the Lord Jesus as your
Saviour, if not I plead with you to do so now. The choice is yours.